ISLAMABAD:
The Parliamentary panel has proposed that each MNA be allowed to nominate ten people for Hajj every year. It has also proposed to send a ten-member delegation to Madinah on an official visit every year to offer greetings at the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) Mosque.
A meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Religious Affairs was held on Monday under the chairmanship of MNA Shagufta Jamani.
During the meeting, the committee recommended that a 10-member parliamentary delegation be sent at the government’s expense to present greetings on Roza-e-Rasool (PBUH). The official delegation will also offer nawafil at Masjid-e-Nabvi and will offer greetings on behalf of the Pakistani nation.
It was informed that such delegations have visited in the past to convey greetings on behalf of the people and also in the future a parliamentary delegation will travel to Medina and Mecca every year.
Family members of the delegation members may also accompany them. The delegation will perform Umrah in Mecca on behalf of the public. In the absence of the NA speaker, the committee chairman will lead the delegation while the speaker appoints the members of the delegation.
The chairman of the committee said that the speaker takes delegations of 15 members each and the expenses of this parliamentary delegation should be borne by the National Assembly.
She added that if the members had to meet the expenses themselves, it could not be called a delegation, as they could travel privately at any time. “We want the National Assembly to bear these expenses,” she said. The committee members agreed with Shagufta Jamani’s view.
